Reactive Technologies has contracted Spanish technology group Ingeteam to construct a 5MW ultracapacitor to help National Grid ESO accurately measure inertia.
It will provide a real-time view of the operability of the power system stability in the ESO’s control room, with the ultracapacitor directly measuring inertia by sending pulses of power through the grid, which is recorded by Reactive’s measurement devices and processed by the GridMetrix cloud platform.
As more renewables come onto the grid, the need to find new ways of providing inertia increases, with inertia historically being sourced from the moving parts of large generators while they generate electricity.
Earlier this year, National Grid ESO awarded six-year contracts to Drax, Statkraft, Triton, Rassau Grid Services (Welsh Power) and Uniper to provide inertia without generating electricity.
All of the companies are either modifying existing assets or building new assets to do so, with Uniper the most recent to reveal more information on its plans, appointing Siemens to deliver the rotating grid stabilisation technology at Killingholme in Lincolnshire and Grain in Kent.
The EPC design and build contract for Reactive’s ultracapacitor was awarded to Ingeteam Spain following a competitive tender. Design work will begin in Q4 2020, with the delivery of equipment expected in Spring 2021 ahead of commencement of service in summer 2021.
It will be located at Wilton International on Teesside, an industrial site managed by Sembcorp Energy UK.
Rob Rome, head of national control at National Grid ESO, said the “pioneering” new measurement tool is part of a range of “new world-first approaches to grid management, and will boost our visibility of inertia across the system, helping to bring more renewable generation online”.
